1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a data providing apparatus, a data providing method and a program, and in particular, to a data providing apparatus, a data providing method and a program for carrying out data search.
2. Description of the Related Art
Recently, computerization progresses, and various data are computerized to be utilized in various purposes. In such circumstances, confidentiality of computerized data becomes an important problem.
In the related art, as shown in FIG. 22, a common data search system is applied to a document search system. A document search system 100 is connected with a service provider apparatus 110 and a service user apparatus 120 via a communication network or such. As the service provider apparatus 110, a server, a personal computer or such is used. The service provider apparatus 110 includes a to-be-searched data storing part 111, a document taking part 112 and a comparing part 113. As the service user apparatus 120, a personal computer or such is used. The service user apparatus 120 includes an input part 121 to which a query word is input, and a display part 122 such as a liquid crystal display device.
The service user apparatus 120 has a query word input via the input part 121. The query word is a search character string for generating a direction to carry out data search, updating, deletion or such, to the service provider apparatus 110. The service user apparatus 120 then receives a search result from the search provider apparatus 110, and displays the search result on the display part 122.
In the service provider apparatus 110, the to-be-searched data storing part 111 stores document data which is used as search targets. When the above-mentioned query word is input from the service user apparatus 120, the document taking part 112 takes document data from the to-be-searched data storing part 111, and transfers the document data to the comparing part 113. The comparing part 113 compares the document data thus received from the document taking part 112 with the query word input from the service user apparatus 120. The comparing part 113 provides a comparison result to the service user apparatus 120.
As such a search system, for example, there is the Amazon Company, as an Internet site, which carries on book selling. Such a book selling search system provides bibliographic information such as book names, authors' names, and so forth, as search data, with which a user can carry out search for a desired book, so as to promote purchase of books. Further, in such a book selling search system, for the purpose of convenience of users, partial contents of books are computerized, are made usable as search targets, and thus, users can properly and positively find desired books (so-called ‘contents search’).
In such a book selling search system, if the entire contents of a book corresponding to a query word are made readable by a user, actual book selling may be prevented. In order to avoid such a situation, a state is entered in which printing is not available, and also, merely parts just before and after the query word are made readable by a user.
That is, in a data search system such as a document search system, it is an important problem to keep confidentiality of data. In particular, when to-be-searched data is data which should be protected by copyright, the to-be-searched data should be strictly managed, whereby management costs may increase. In such a case, the to-be-searched data cannot be distributed to a user, and should be managed on the search site provider side. For example, Japanese Laid-Open Patent Application 11-282867 discloses an art in which only parts just before and after a query word are provided in a condition that printing is not available. Japanese Laid-Open Patent Application 2006-48464, paragraph 0002 and so forth, discloses an art in which data is provided in such a state that the data is reversibly encoded (enciphered), and the data contents are provided in response to a decoding/deciphering key or such being input.
However, in the above-mentioned related arts, data is partially provided, or data which has been reversibly encoded. Therefore, further improvement is necessary in view of improving convenience of a data search system, and also, in view of protecting the data.
That is, in the related art in which data is partially provided, a user cannot satisfy and may not stop actually purchasing a story book because a main purpose of purchasing a story book may be to read the story book throughout. However, in a case of a technical book, a practical book or such, a user may satisfy when the user reads parts just before and after a query word. In such a case, the user may stop actually purchasing the book. This is a reason why further improvement is necessary.
Further, in the related art in which data is provided in such a state that printing is not available, screen display of data itself may be printed, and a user may satisfy by printing the screen display itself. In such a case, derivative use of contents cannot be avoided sufficiently. This is another reason why further improvement is necessary.
Further, in the related art in which data is reversibly encoded and provided, it is generally difficult to search for contents in a state in which the contents are encoded. Therefore, it is generally necessary to decode the contents for the purpose of determining whether the contents include a query word (i.e., search characters). However, in order to decode the contents, because there may not be a common decoding method, it is necessary to provide a special decoding apparatus each for a respective one of various encoding methods. As a result, the entire-system increases in its size, and also, increases in its costs. Further, because data is encoded reversibly, and thus, the encoded data can be decoded with the use of a proper decoding key. Therefore, when the decoding key leaks, or is deciphered, all the contents of to-be-searched data are known, and thus, confidentiality may not be kept.
Therefore, in a book search system or such, book copyright holders or publishers may be unwilling to provide electronic data of their books. Thereby, the number of books for which contents can be searched for may not be increased. Thereby chances that users can finally reach desired books may reduce, and consequently, the publishers' potential benefits may decrease.